After finishing the first battle in the boss room, some time passed.
There were still sporadic attacks from groups of monsters afterward, but Zighart handled them all with ease.
None of the monsters were enhanced by the influence of the Demon Lord species, but they were still lower-layer monsters.
Normally, they would be formidable enemies, but… it seemed like they were no match for this guy.

As we continued to move along the walls, scattering the monsters as we went, we came to a slightly open area, and Alec, leading the way, stopped.
Although the battles along the way had taken some time, we had likely reached almost halfway through the boss room by now.
This boss room seemed to be as large as the entire area in front of the lower layers, and we had already passed through several passages to get here.
If we went too far, reinforcements might come flooding in from those passages.

“This spot should be fine. What do you think, Zigh?”

“Yeah… the visibility is good, and the footing isn’t bad. Let’s settle here.”

The location was along the wall, with good footing, a relatively high vantage point, and a clear view of the surroundings.
It was also at a reasonable distance from the passages, making it easier to notice any reinforcements coming through.
This spot seemed likely to serve as the main base for the battle against the boss.

“Alright, I’ll go fetch the supplies.”

Last time, we were caught in a surprise attack and a chaotic melee, so there wasn’t any time to prepare. This time, we needed to be thorough.
Since we had 【Hideout】 stocked with various recovery items and spare equipment, it was time to make use of them.

“Princess, let me help.”

“Alright. Thanks.”

Hurrying to finish preparations before any monsters arrived, I touched the wall and entered 【Hideout】 with Teresa.

◇

“I’ll grab the potions. Teresa, could you handle the weapons over there? You can use the cart.”

“Understood.”

Inside, I gave Teresa her instructions and headed to the refrigerator in the living room.
I opened the refrigerator door and pulled out two large bags stored inside.
These contained the potions.
The ones with green ties were for healing, and the ones with red ties were for magic recovery.

I placed these outside along with the spare equipment.
This time, since the distance between the front line and the rear was short, I’d have to come back here myself for recovery instead of delivering items.

…Well, it’s better if we don’t need to use them at all.

“Alright…!”

With some effort, I hoisted the bags.
Each bag contained ten potions, making them quite heavy.
If I wasn’t strengthened by 【Prayer】, I probably wouldn’t have been able to lift them.

“Ah, are you done over there too?”

At the entrance, I saw that the box of spare weapons had already been unloaded from the cart, and preparations were complete.
The cart was something made specifically for carrying relics indoors, so it wasn’t designed for use outside, especially in rugged dungeon terrain.
It would have been convenient if it worked outside too, but… well, it couldn’t be helped.

“Yes. A spear, a sword, and a spare shield. Let’s place those bags here as well and move everything out.”

Teresa took the bags from me and placed them in the empty space in the box.
There were still plenty of stocked supplies, but this should be enough for now.

“Before we head out… hold on a second.”

I peered through the peephole on the door to check the situation outside.
Unlike usual, it wasn’t activated on the ceiling, so I had to manually confirm the surroundings.

I didn’t realize until recently, but by doing this, I could actually see outside.
The first time I tried it, I was surprised, but thinking about it, that’s exactly what it’s meant for.
It wasn’t as multifunctional as a room monitor, but it was convenient for times like this.

“Hmm… looks clear. Let’s go.”

Outside, Alec and the others were on guard, watching the surroundings.
Zighart and Fiora weren’t visible, so they were probably working on setting up the footing.
Nothing seemed to be happening yet, so it was safe to head out.

◇

“Whoa…”

When we stepped outside, we found a small fort had been constructed.
It was about 20 meters long and wide, with walls about 1 meter tall surrounding it like a fence.
There was even a moat-like structure around it.

In the center of the fort stood a 2-meter-high platform.
That must have been Zighart’s position.

The moat didn’t just encircle the area—it also had paths at certain points to cross.
The paths seemed to be for Alec and the others to use when coming back for supplies or recovery.
Monsters could likely cross them too, but as long as they didn’t charge in a straight line, it should suffice as a minor hindrance.
They’d probably be shot down from above anyway.

I once heard that during construction near the capital, they didn’t use magic for large-scale excavations or leveling work because it was hard to fine-tune and could weaken the ground, leading to future accidents.
In a dungeon, though, those concerns didn’t seem to apply.

Even though these people never underestimated their tasks, if they went this far, did they sense some threat that I couldn’t perceive?

“Sera, place the supplies in front of that platform. It’ll be easy to find there, right?”

“Got it.”

I responded to Zighart’s instructions, although Teresa was the one carrying everything.

“Still, it’s amazing how quickly they built this…”

Trying to shift the slightly awkward mood, I commented to Zighart, who replied with a wry smile.

“That’s Fiora for you… She can’t exactly do this kind of thing openly outside, so she’s giving it her all here.”

Fiora was busy using wind magic to even out the height of the walls.

“…Ah.”

These people were undoubtedly skilled, but occasionally, they had their quirks.
Still, having this much leeway wasn’t a bad thing.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Seria: 【Hideout】 +1, 【Prayer】, 【Mira’s Blessing】, 【Wind’s Raiment】, 【Floating Orb】 +1, 【Shadow Sword】, 【Crimson Bee’s Needle】, 【Fairy’s Eye】, 【Dragon’s Lung】, 【Amber Sword】, 【Danrem’s Thread】, 【Snake’s Tail】, 【Ankle Bracelet】, 【Amber Shield】, 【Purple Feather】 ・3 cards

Seriana: 【Area Identification】 ・【】 ・28 cards
Elena: 【】 ・【Green Fang】, 【Amber Sword】 ・3 cards
Alec: 【Strong Strike】 ・【Red Shield】, 【Fierce Horned Trumpet】 ・5 cards